DeCastro to the Steelers boarders on the unfair. He is a perfect fit for their team, system and mentality.

Sean Spence was a need pick. Not that they need linebackers, they just have a compulsion to draft them. LeBeau's system is based around linebackers, if they run out of them they're sunk. So they draft a LB or 2 every year and put them in the pipeline. In a couple of years, if he hasn't washed out, he'll be next man up.

Chris Rainey is a great athlete, not sure he's an NFL player. I assume he gets moved to WR, he can't block anyone. I don't see him ever being more than a return man. Worth a late round pick due to his athletic ability, I'm just not sure 5th round is late enough.

What Spence brings different to the table is an ability to cover. Last year, the Steelers struggled mightily against the more athletic TEs like Gronk, Vern Davis, Owen Daniels, and the Dickson/Pitta combo. Sean Spence eventually brings that added dimension, giving them someone who will be able to better neutralize the TE.

DeCastro to the Steelers boarders on the unfair. He is a perfect fit for their team, system and mentality.

Sean Spence was a need pick. Not that they need linebackers, they just have a compulsion to draft them. LeBeau's system is based around linebackers, if they run out of them they're sunk. So they draft a LB or 2 every year and put them in the pipeline. In a couple of years, if he hasn't washed out, he'll be next man up.

Chris Rainey is a great athlete, not sure he's an NFL player. I assume he gets moved to WR, he can't block anyone. I don't see him ever being more than a return man. Worth a late round pick due to his athletic ability, I'm just not sure 5th round is late enough.

Getting the far and away best guard in this draft at #24 is borderline unfair, but since when is the draft fair? go ask any jacksonville fan about it being fair... Wait thats a tarp...

As far as rainey goes, I'm guessing we view him as a sproles type of guy as his ceiling. Remember Andy, this steelers offense will look foreign. It's no longer going to be so predictable. We view his floor as a ST maven. Returning kicks and being a gunner. He's a 5th round pick, so its not as though we expect him to succeed.

No pick in the 6th, was the price we paid to move up and get Ta'amu .
And I could care less about the 7th rounders. The only likely player to perhaps stick is the receiver from Colorado we picked. All based on his ability to play special teams. The others are likely members of the practice squad.

Final synopsis of our draft:

We filled all of our needs with high value players. We got the best guard in the draft, we got a tackle with a 1st round grade low in the 2nd, and we got our nt of the future in the 4th, when many thought he would definitely be gone in the 3rd. We got a couple linebacker toys, and perhaps a future sproles. The only spot we didn't address that needs help is safety. This draft class sucked at safety after barron.

In the scouting staff, mike tomlin, and Kevin colbert we trust!! Nice job fellas! It will be nice to see something other than a C next to our draft class post draft for a change.

Now its time for coach kugler and Mitchell to get decastro/Adams and Ta'amu, respectively, ready to start ASAP!!

"If I could start my life all over again, I would be a professional football player, and you damn well better believe I would be a Pittsburgh Steeler." Jack Lambert, 1990 HoF Introduction.

I think the Steelers did a lot better than people think. They're not going to get a ton of credit for it and then when the season starts, half of ESPN will be dumbfounded that the OL has improved and Rainey is tearing it up. Not the best draft of the year, but considering their spot, they get an A.

Steelers fans have a devout -- irrational? -- belief their coaches and lockerroom can get any old lazy SOB to play hard. Not buying it. I have serious doubts about Mike Adams.

Not irrational, and it doesn't always work out, but the Steelers have strong leadership, and a good locker room. There are some situations that appear (to be) dysfunctional (*cough-Jesters-cough*), but Pittsburgh has historically been one of those teams that are able to have some success taking on a calculated risk.

Even if Adams is a lazy ****wit, I still think he's better than any tackle who's played in Pittsburgh in the last few seasons. I don't have a whole lot of lingering loyalty to Ohio State players in the pros, but I don't generally wish them ill, either. Playing for Pittsburgh, I kind of hope it doesn't work, but that only means that it will. Like Andy, I'm not sure Rainey is an NFL player, which means he's the next Darren Sproles.

Honestly, I hate how much I love Pittsburgh's draft. Hate. It. Is it easier to have a great draft when you already have talent in place? The only place where bad teams truly get a significant advantage is in the first round. After that, prices for trades are much more fluid, more reasonable, and it's easier to move to get the role-play-now-with-big-potential-later you want if you're a successful team. Hm.

Even if Adams is a lazy ****wit, I still think he's better than any tackle who's played in Pittsburgh in the last few seasons.

Exactly. And really, there's not a great history of tackle play in Pittsburgh. They've had some good players, like Tunch Ilkin, Leon Searcy, and Marvel Smith, but overall, not a very good history. No matter what happens with Adams, I'd bet he certainly won't be as bad as this guy.

Steelers fans have a devout -- irrational? -- belief their coaches and lockerroom can get any old lazy SOB to play hard. Not buying it. I have serious doubts about Mike Adams.

It's not so irrational, when the devout belief is steeped in long term, sustained success. What's wrong with believing in our coaches, gm, front office, scouting staff, and ownership when its a proven fact all of those units are near the top of their individual classifications?

I have doubts about Adams. I was pissed initially with the pick, until I read the background story I posted in the op. Who am I to disagree with colbert? His success speaks for itself. He consistently drafts better than every gm in the league. If colbert likes the kid, I love the pick. Perhaps a bit of blind loyalty, but if anyone has earned that its Kevin colbert.

Our locker room can't get any OLD lazy sob to perform, but it certainly can the young ones. That's steeped in long term data too. The second a guy doesn't conform to our standards, his butt is gone. Ask Holmes how quick that happens. And we launched him for a mere pittance. Next man up, the standard is the standard. That's how our team is run. It's what's allowed seamless transitions from two very different coaches to similarly regular success.

This may seem very foreign to many fans, simply because the steelers franchise is so different from the others. Our way works, and you'll forgive me if I buy in 100%. We are spoiled with stability at the top, that no other franchise knows. It's a view into the mind of a self admitted "spoiled" steelers fan.

This draft was the one that most excited either regular steelers fan, and both of us aren't youngsters. Our team was 12-4 last year, with all the injuries and rag tag subs. This draft made us appreciably better. So did the bengals draft, for them. In a couple years this seems like its going to be an all out war between the bengals and steelers for the division.

The ratbirds had a good draft, but they have a below avg qb, with a below avg wr corps. They lost another dc, and as reed and ray ray fade, so will their contention in this very, very difficult division.

Trench warfare it is bengals1181, mixed with what the qbs can make happen

Can't wait for games..

"If I could start my life all over again, I would be a professional football player, and you damn well better believe I would be a Pittsburgh Steeler." Jack Lambert, 1990 HoF Introduction.